After a decade’s absence, Madeleine Bialke returned to Park Rapids bearing paint brushes and fond memories.
She’s the 2024 artist-in-residence at Nemeth Art Center (NAC). Since May, she’s been diligently painting 10 new works at a cabin/studio near Two Inlets. All are inspired by the Northwoods landscape and her “nostalgic childhood.”
Her exhibit, “The Long View,” opens on Saturday, July 13. An artist reception for Bialke and Wayne Gudmundson runs from 4 to 6 p.m.
Both sets of her grandparents – Harold and Eleanor Olson and Dutch and Elaine Bialke – lived in Park Rapids.
“My parents grew up in Park Rapids, both of them, and they were high school sweethearts,” she said of Bill and Anne Bialke.
Madeleine, a triplet, was born in upstate New York in 1991. She and her sisters visited Park Rapids with her parents during the summers.
“We spent a lot of time getting trucked around to different lakes. The Olsons had a 40-acre property south of Park Rapids on Straight River. We’d swim in the river and get leeches, canoe and run around the woods,” Madeleine recalled.
This residency came at an ideal time, she said. Madeleine had intended to redo some oil paintings of Minnesota that she had completed in college.
“This was a perfect way to stay still for a bit and look at some trees,” she said.
Madeleine prefers oil paints, drawn to their slow drying process.
Contributed/Madeleine Bialke
Her paintings are “built up on a lot of layers. Each one has three to four layers, sometimes up to seven to eight,” she said. “The color has to change as the mood develops.”
Three of her new works are based on her family’s Straight River property, three feature Itasca State Park and three reflect the Two Inlets area.
Madeleine describes her landscapes “as very person-like. The trees have a lot of anthropomorphic qualities. … I’m trying to imbue personality.”
She earned her Master of Fine Arts at Boston University in 2016 and Bachelor of Fine Arts from Plattsburgh State in 2013. She has had solo or group exhibitions in Belgium, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Latvia and the U.S.
Bialke recently moved to London with her wife, but previous to that, she lived in Brooklyn for seven years.
Her show will be displayed at the Nemeth through Sept. 28. Admission is free to the NAC galleries, which are open and free to the public. NAC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It’s located upstairs in the historic Hubbard County Courthouse, located at 301 Court Ave.
